Nearly 50,000 vehicles pass by New Holland Baptist Church in Gainesville every day – one about every 1.7 seconds.
For the past month, Pastor Brian Stephens has been sitting beneath a canopy tent overlooking the bustling thoroughfare, praying for the passersby. Just quietly praying.
Prayer concerns are stapled to a makeshift cross outside the Church.
Stephens has sought no attention. He made no public announcement. He didn’t advertise. Yet, people here have taken notice of his simple act of obedience after he perceived God directing him to pray outside his church for a month, from 6:30 a.m. to 8 p.m., every day, through the heat and humidity of a Georgia summer, through thunderstorms with gusty winds that threatened to turn his tent into a huge kite.
He kept on praying.
“People say I’m outside the box,” the pastor said. “I suppose people say that about anyone who does something that’s even slightly different.”
But Stephens, as a lifelong pastor, knows the power of prayer. He said he has witnessed it firsthand in his life and in the lives of fellow believers.
“God can do more in a moment that we can do in an entire lifetime,” he said.
Townsfolk have started coming to join Stephens in prayer and to be prayed for. So far, about 200 people have tapped their brakes and pulled to a stop in the church parking lot.
“There seems to be something happening in our community,” Stephens said. “I’m sensing a move toward Jesus, a move toward prayer.”